In the News

Iowa Senate Denies Confirmation of Appointee to Medical Board

Iowa Senate Denies Confirmation of Appointee to Medical Board

April 17, 2012 — The Iowa Senate declined to confirm an appointee to the state Board of Medicine because of her alleged association with an antiabortion-rights activist convicted of conspiring to bomb an abortion clinic, the Register's "Iowa Politics" reports.

In a 2010 photo from a Medical Board hearing, nominee Colleen Pasnik is pictured standing beside Cheryl Sullenger, who served two years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to blow up a clinic in 1988.

Pasnik -- past director of the Family Life Office for the Archdiocese of Dubuque and past executive assistant for Dubuque County Right to Life -- said she did not know about Sullenger's past at the time of the photo and "would never advocate violence" (Clayworth, "Iowa Politics," Des Moines Register, 4/12).

Video Round Up

An Interview with Justice Ginsburg on the State of Abortion Access

In a rare interview, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells MSNBC's Irin Carmon it is a "crying shame" that state abortion restrictions are making the procedure increasingly "[i]naccessible" to many low-income women. Watch the video

Datapoints

A Look at Abortion Coverage in the ACA's Marketplace Plans, Repro Health Report Card, More

This week's charts depict why abortion coverage is unavailable in many states' ACA marketplace plans for 2015. We also feature a national reproductive health report card and an interactive look at abortion restrictions in Missouri. Read more

At A Glance

"[Roe v. Wade] protects a woman's freedom to make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters."

— President Obama, commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Read more